Part of the joy of a 10 day PDC is the captive audience. Or so I would suspect.

My current situation is quite the opposite: busy working grown-ups with many and competing commitments embarking on a PDC at the rate of 1.5 days a fortnight.  We have never had everyone present.

Yesterday, in a conversation reflecting on last week's divergence from the curriculum to build a garden at a student's house, the group demonstrated such maturity and commitment to the success of every participant that I announced that the rest of the course was their own to plan.  I told them when I was not available, and they worked out the rest.  What is being done, who is doing it, when and where. 

Already, site visits and new locations are planned, and this before even deciding who is bringing morning tea.

As an exercise in addressing the curriculum requirements for 'social permaculture' it has proven a wonderful way for students to gain first hand experience of various decision making styles and the sheer momentum that comes from a group based on trust and commitment to shared ethics, even if only for the period in which the course is conducted.